Fable has been delayed to 2026, and that’s alright

The Head of Xbox Game Studios, Craig Duncan, with an update on the current happenings with Xbox Game Studios. At the end of the Podcast Duncan announced that while the team is excited about the progress on Fable, they’ve decided to give it more time and push the release to 2026.

Several Xbox Game Studios titles were discussed during the Xbox Podcast including the recently released Avowed, and upcoming titles like South of Midnight, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Ninja Gaiden 4, and Doom: The Dark Ages. But at the end🍃 of the podcast, Duncan showed some brief gameplay footage up the upcoming RPG and discussed its future.

So, I just want to start with really excited, really excited about progress, really excited where Playground are. We previously announced the date for Fable as 2025, we are actually going to give Fable more time and it’s going to ship in 2026 now. While I know that’s not maybe the news people want to hear, what I want to assure people of is that it’s definitely worth the wait. And I just, I have unequivocal confidence in the Playground team.

– Craig Duncan, Head of Xbox Game Studios

Visually, Fable looks to be taking a more realistic approach in terms of visual design as opposed to the more fantastical storybook art style the franchise is known for. In theory, I probably wouldn’t have been happy about this change, but seeing it in action through the clips provided during the podcast, it actually looks really good. My very initial reaction is that the combat looks similar to that of The Witcher 3, favoring a more methodical approach to third-person real-tim♓e action RPG combat.

And let’s be real here, as much as we’d all like to play Fable this year, it’s alright and very understandable to see it delayed. First off, this is a big release for Xbox, and it’s important that it does better than just alright. But for fans of Fable, we’ve waited over 15 years for this, what’s another year especially if it means giving the RPG the love and polish it deserves to be what we want it to be: a damn good RPG.

Fable is now set ⭕to release in 2026 on PC and Xbox Series X|💃S.